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Vitamin E Might Make Heart Disease Worse
Vitamin E Might Make Heart Disease Worse -- Posted by Gumbo on 11-10-04 19:11
Vitamin E Might Make Heart Disease Worse
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Vitamin E supplements - taken by many Americans in
hopes of warding off heart disease - do not work, and may actually make the
condition worse, researchers say.
``People take vitamin E because they think it's going to make them
live longer. This doesn't support that at all,'' said Dr. Edgar Miller of
Johns Hopkins University, who led the new analysis.
The study was reported Wednesday at an American Heart Association
conference in New Orleans and was also published online by the Annals of
Internal Medicine.
Many Americans continue to take vitamin E despite Heart Association
guidelines saying it doesn't work and recent research suggesting it can
interfere with statin drugs.
The study was an analysis of 19 previous studies involving a total of
about 136,000 people who took vitamin E alone or in combination with other
vitamins.
Those taking 400 international units per day or more - the amount in
most vitamin E supplements - had 10 times the risk of dying as those taking
200 units or less.
Most multivitamins contain 35 to 40 units of vitamin E, which the
study suggests might be slightly beneficial for health, Miller said.
``I spend all my time trying to tell patients why they should not take
vitamin E,'' Dr. Raymond Gibbons, a Mayo Clinic cardiologist and American
Heart Association chairman. ``Too often in terms of the supplements there's
very scant science. In this area, we have the science. Vitamin E doesn't
work.''
The idea that antioxidants such as vitamin E might ward off heart
trouble was based in part on test tube studies that indicated they protect
the heart's arteries by blocking the damaging effects of oxygen. Studies
also show that healthy people who eat vitamin-rich food seem to have less
heart disease.
However, experts say that perhaps antioxidants work when only in food,
or that people who eat vitamin-rich food have a lower risk of heart disease
because they take better care of themselves overall.
Dr. Robert Eckel, a cardiologist and metabolism expert from the
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, said he long has advised
patients not to take vitamin E but that people cling to the belief it is
beneficial. One woman he recently treated was taking 23 nutritional
supplements but did not want to take ``medicines'' because she thought all
supplements were good and all prescription drugs suspect.
``This is a real issue,'' he said.
11/10/04 14:58
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information
contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise
distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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